North Kentucky News

Patriots Roll Past Blue Raiders

Cumberlands remained perfect on their home court after a dominant 77-57 win over MSC foe Lindsey Wilson College. The Patriots move to 11-2 on the year and 5-2 in conference play.

 

Five Patriots finished in double digits on the day as J.J. Ramey lead the way with 15 points. Jahi Hinson added 12 points and 6 rebounds off the bench while Lamar Harris Jr. tallied 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Steven Fitzgerald had another double figure performance with 11 with Matt Cromer scored 10 and added 3 steals. UC tied their season high with 11 steals on the defensive end, which led to 20 points off turnovers alone.

 

The first four minutes of play saw little action, as Ramey was the only Patriot to score off a jumper from the elbow. A three from Fitzgerald and a step back triple out of Hinson gave UC their first lead of the game with 15 minutes left in the half. After three more minutes of scoreless play Austin Hall blocked a shot on the defensive end and hit a fade away on the offensive side to bring the score to 10-6.

 

Bell knocked down a three of his own before LWC responded with five points. Kamari Kenemore knocked down a long jumper, giving UC the 15-11 lead with just over 10 minutes on the clock. UC's defense continued to make plays, coming away with three steals over the next five minutes while holding the Blue Raiders to just three points. This led to six UC points from a strong Hinson finish in the lane, a Harris free throw, and three out of Cromer. The Patriots outscored LWC 10-9 to finish off the half. Fitzgerald tallied four points, Cromer knocked down a free throw and Hinson hit a floater and three pointer at the buzzer to send UC into the locker room with the 31-23 lead.

 

A backdoor cut and finish from Ramey off the pass from Isaiah Payton started a dominant second half performance from the Pats. Lindsey Wilson responded with a lay in of their own before a Fitzgerald three, and Ramey steal and score put the Pats up 38-25. Another nice find from Payton led to a Harris slam to increase the lead to 15. Six points out of both teams brought the score to 46-31 with 15:41 left.

 

Cumberlands put on a show over the next three minutes of play. A Kenemore steal led to a fast break alley oop slam from Harris. Ramey hit a deep three next possession down the court before flushing back-to-back slams on straight possessions. UC's lead grew to 20, forcing a Lindsey Wilson timeout. LWC netted five points out of their timeout before Jadrian Flores scored his first points of the game with a triple. Hinson drove to the hoop for two more before Cromer hit his third three of the game while the Blue Raiders hit a pair of lay ups and a jumper as the score read 63-46 with 7:13 left in regulation.

 

Four straight points from Harris grew the lead back to 19 with just over five minutes remaining. The game ended with UC outscoring their opponents 10-9. This stretch saw even more dunks out of the Pats including a put back from Flores and another Harris jam on a Kenemore assist, his fifth of the game. Elijah Jefferson joined in on the fun with a three pointer of his own to give UC their 77th point of the night. The final buzzer sounded soon after with a final score of 77-57.

 

Cumberlands will take a road trip south next week as they will take on RV UT Southern on Thursday the 15th. This game will tip-off at 8:30 PM ET in Pulaski, TN.

 

For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics. Please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter- @UC_Patriots and @UCPatsGameday, Instagram- @UCPatriots, TikTok- @ucpatriots, Youtube- Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics. 

Original source can be found here.